Gus Hansen, also known as The Great Dane, was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He first began playing poker in summer camp and went on to play backgammon in high school. He focused on his backgammon, but found the professional field too small. He began to focus on his poker.

He began finding his style, which is loose and aggressive, which makes him almost unreadable at the table. This gave him a great advantage and at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas, he showed he was a man on a mission and took home the half a million dollar first prize. He had many other final table appearances and wins in 2025 and 2025. In 2025 he won over $1,000,000 at the Poker Superstars Invitational and in 2025 he took the Aussie Millions Main Event and over $1,500,000.

Hansen has a wild reputation at the table, which gives him lots of action and has led to more than $7,200,000 in live tournament winnings. He also has an endorsement deal with Full Tilt Poker. Also, he was named, the poker pro one of the 50 sexiest men alive in 2025.